INCREASE CSA Status

This is the central feature for the success of the experiment – everything revolves around it. - recording data, e. g. about flowering time, seed size etc. - access information on the European origin of the beans you will be growing based on geographical coordinates and other information associated to the original collection sites, such as altitudes etc.  In order to face the increasing demand for innovative products and comply with the citizens’ demands for healthy and environmentally friendly foodstuffs, novel varieties are needed and existing genetic resources in crop breading must be properly exploited.  Focusing on chickpea, common bean, lentil and lupin, INCREASE will implement a new approach to conserve, manage and characterise genetic resources leading to benefits on different levels.  The characterisation and maintenance of food legume genetic resources and their exploitation in pre-breeding form the core development of both more sustainable agriculture and healthier food products.  INCREASE is guided by the European Commission principles “open science, open innovation and open to the world” and takes advantage of digital technologies to make science and innovation more collaborative and global.  These species represent a cross-section in terms of their potential value for sustainable food production, and they are all strongly linked to the European food tradition and needs, with significant options for EU agriculture.  For this purpose, the project tests a decentralised approach to the conservation of genetic resources by setting up a Citizen Science Experiment.  The aim is to spread knowledge about legumes biodiversity and to involve citizens in evaluation and conservation activities as well as in sharing and exchanging seeds via a specifically developed INCREASE mobile app.  Human plant protein intake is on the rise in many EU regions and the market for meat and dairy alternatives is undergoing annual growth rates of 14% and 11% respectively.  The INCREASE project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 862862.